Electric telemotor apparatus



I M. P. LAUGHLIN ELECTRIC TELEMOTC'R APPARATUS Original Filed March 2, 1922 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Q83 W I a 0. Ava-M I Jan; 19", 1926. 1,570,505

M. P. LAUGHLHN ELECTRIC 'LELEMOTOR APPARATUS Original iled'Ma -ch g, 1922 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 ,1? .108 Zorn Patented Jan. 19, 1926.

Arena fiFFEE,

mmon rinm LA'UGELIN, or BATH, rmnwn.

ELECTRIC TELEMOTOR APPARATUS.

Application filed March 1922, Serial No. 540,656. Renewed March 1-8, 1924.

T whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, MYnoN P. LAUcHmng a citizen of the United States, and a resinew and useful Improvements in Electricv dent of Bath, in the county of Sagadahoc and State of Maine, have invented certaln Telemotor A paratus, ofwhich the followin is a speci cation.-

y present invention concerns an electric telemotor agiparatus forenabli'ng a moving part to be e ectively controlledfrom a distance, and aims to'provide means in which the control may be effected by the use of-a circuit or circuits which shall be free from contacts or circuit making and breaking devices.

The'invention comprises the novel system of electric distribution and control and. the

means therefor, as hereinafterdescribed, my

said invention being defined by the ap-' pended claims.

My invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which 4 Figure 1 is a diagrammatic view of a shipssteering'telemotor apparatus embody ing my invention, the moving coils of the transmitter and follow up inductionregulators being shown on center line, and the steering motor being in stationary or inac tive condition, arrows 1nd1cat1ng wires 1n which current is flowing, andlack of ar rows. indicatingwhere no current. is flowing."

to the right and the direction of resulting currents being indicated by arrows, the follow upregulator having not started to move, or being just ready to start. b

.Fig. 3 is a view-similar'; to Fig. 2, with the coil of the follow up regulator turned to current neutralizing or bucking position.

Fig. his a detail view of the follow-up lever.

-Whi1eI have, for convenience, selected a ships steering gear a'ssuitable for il lustrating the manner v of embodiment and use of my invention, it will be understood-- that it is not, limited to such use, but is adapted as well for the" control from a distance of a motor designed to operate any "Jmoving part.

Referring to reference characters to this drawing, the numeral 1 designates a'rudder stock or post operatively connected to'the Fig, 2 isa similar view illustrating the circuits only, the moving coil of'tlieitransmitter having been turned from center line' The arrangement of parts thus far described is,- or may be, similar to that shown in Letters Patentv of the United States granted to C. E. Paine on the 8th day of July, 1919, No. 1,309,076, and is shown for convenience of illustration only.

The follow up lever 6 is operated by screw shaft 7 which engages a nut 8 hav- .ing wingsqwhichengage slots 6* in a bifurcated portion ofthe follow up lever, the intermediate portion-of the lever being connected to the reversing valve stem 5 and the opposite end connected with the plunger by a slotted connection indicated at 6",

1 Screw ,7'isdfiven from a'valve control. electric motor (preferably D. C.)-through reducing gearing 9, 10, and the screw shaft may be continuedto an auxiliary; stand, and

provided with means for hand foperation (not shown) in case of trouble with the electric apparatus.

. The valve control electricq iotor is indicatedrby the numeral 11, the field and armature being supplied with current by the conductors as shown. The armature shaft is connected by gears 12, 13 with a shaft 14 which carries fast thereon a Worm l5 meshing with a worm gear segment 16 attached to orkconnected with the moving coil or secondary 17 of the follow up inductionvregulator l7. The shaft of motor 11 may be provided with a magnetic brake indicated conventionally at 18..

The numeral. 19 designates the trick wheel, the shaft of which carries fast thereon a worm' 20 meshing with a worm gear segment 21 which in turn operates in suitable manner, as by means of bevel gears 22 and shaft 23, the moving coil or secondary 24 of the transmitting induction regulator The transmitter andfollow up regulators are connected with each other by the lines or conductors indicated by the words fduced in the control wire and coil 9 of 15 relay not being excited takes a neutral position in field f, the switch arm 26 is maintained in open position, assisted by adjustable springs 26 which'prevent contacts to motor circuit being made when, or if, alternating current supply is discontinued.

Switch arm 26-controls the flow of direct current through the armatures of motor control relay switches 27 .and 28, both switches being shown in Fig. 1 in open position, though each is making' contact which affords path for starting current when the other switch is closed, in such open position the armature of the motor being short circuited, effecting a quick stop of the motor.

Referring now to Fig. 2, in which the moving coil or secondary of the transmitter has been turned to the right or in a clockwisedirection by the trick wheel and magnetic lines of force are cut and current is instantly induced therein,- the direction oi current being indicated by arrows c 0 from the secondary to common wire, to the secondary of the follow up regulator, then by control wire in direction of arrow 0 to armature coil 9 of polarized selector relay 25, returning as indicated by arrow 0 over the control wire to secondary of the transmitter. The energizing of armature 0011 g gives it a polarity which seeks the unlike poles in its magnetic field, and' hence operating in a manner analogous to aspolarized relay. This causes switch arm 26 to make contact on the direct current circuit, the path being from positive supply wlre through wire d, contacts (2, d wire d magnet coil d, and wire I!" 'back' to the negative.

Magnet d having thus been energized, switch or circuit closer 27 is moved from the position shown in Fig. 1 to that shown in Fig. 2, which closes the circuit through the motor, the path of the current being through positive line 0, armature or switch contacts e, e line 6 to motor armature, line e armature or switch contacts 6 e, and line 6, e to negative line. In this view the motor is indicated as just starting and hence the follow up regulator has not been moved. The operation of the motor through the gearing, screw. shaft and follow up lever 6 hereinbefore described operates the reversing valve to admit fluid under pressure to the ram which turns the rudder stock, the follow up lever 6 acting in the manner well understood by those skilled in the art.

At the same time the'rotation of the motor armature through the worm gearing 16,

-17 swings the follow up secondary in the direction of the arrow, and, supposing the movement "of the trick wheel and transmitter to have stopped, the follow up secondary will continue to move until it has reached the same degree of angularity as the transmitter secondary when the current will be neutralized, and, since no current then flows in the control wire, the c011 ditions shown and'described in connection with relay 25 in Fig. 1, are restored.

As will be obvious, however, continued movement of the trick wheel will cause the transmitter secondary to keep ahead, soto speak, of the follow up regulator, so that any desired degree of movement may be im arted to the rudder.

bviously if the trick wheel is moved in the opposite direction, this will cause the transmitter secondary to swing over in a counter clockwise direction. This causes the current induced in the transmitter secondary to flow by control wire through coil '9, to the secondary of the follow up regulator, and by .common line back to the transmitter secondary.

The polarity of coil 9 is now reversed from that of Fig. 2 and electric connection is made between contacts at and d. The resulting direct current flow is from the positive line through line (1, contacts 03. d line d magnet coil d ,.and lines at, (l

to negative. Switch arm28 being attracted, the path of the motor current is from positive line through line 6, switch contact 6 line 6 to motor armature, and thence by line 6 switch contact 6', and line a to negative line. This. gives movement in a reverse direction to the motor and follow up secondary as indicated by the respective arrows. I

In Fig. 3, I have shown the secondary of the transmitter in --.theposition it would assume if it had moved in a counter clockwise direction iii response to a movement of the trick wheelin the opposite direction to that shown in Fig. 2. I have when the travel of the follow up secondary has caused it to reach a degree of angularity equal to that of the transmitter secondary, as shown Fig. 3, the strength of induced current is equal.

The path of the bucking up or neutralizing current is, as shown by arrows, from the follow up secondary through line a, to coil g, when it will be opposed to current from the transmitter and henceno current will pass throughcoil '9' which will move to neutral position, opening the switch contacts on the direct current circuits, and stopping the motor.

It will be evident that since a balanced electrical circuit condition indicates that the ships rudder or corresponding movable part has taken a position which corres ponds'to that of the trick wheel,while an unbalanced condition indicates that there is a lack of correspondence in the position of said parts, any instrument which will indicate a state of balance or unbalance will serve as an indication of the action of the telemotor apparatus and such'an instrument may be 'a voltmeter 30 connected up as shown.

The instrument here described would in dicate only during a difference in the angles of transmitter and follow-up, and would show zero at any angle of rudder after a balanced circuit was attained. Also it is evident thatga raised lowered or normal voltage taken from the line and control wires has a'direct relation to the angularity of movement of both the transmitter and follow-up and any instrument such as a voltmeter 30 connected'up as shown will indicate the action of the. telemotor apparatus andsupply a rudder angle indicator. For example with connections made to line and control wires as shown, the circuit shunted is the primary and secondary windings in series as shown by arrows l.

In this figure no current being induced in thesecondary, the reading will be equal to the/supply minus a slight resistance drop. In Fig. 2 current directions are opposed and the meter will indicate a bucked or lowcred voltage.

In Fig; ,3, a boosted or raised voltage is indicated and the follow up having changed to a corresponding angle has raised the meter reading, thus afi'ording an indicator of the movement of the follow-up.

Since the alternating current contr ol arrangement described is contactless, there are no steps in its operation. The system will unbalance upon anydifi'erehce in relative position between the trick or steering wheel and the rudder which eliminates the dilliculties due to a limited number of steering positions, the sensitivity of-the apparatus depending upon the sensitiveness of the actuating device, which, with a contact less alternating current control such as hereinbefore described, is very great.

It will be understood that I do not limit myself to the manner shown of applying power to the rudder for obviously, if desired, the motor shown as operating the valve could be an A. C. or D. C. motor of sufiicient power to operate the udder by direct drive, or any form of power transmitting connections could be used.

It will also be understood that-I do not limit myself to any particular form of induction regulators, or relays, nor to the particular arrangement of circuits disclosed, as the same could be varied in many Ways. without departing from the sp irit of my invention.

For example, instead of regulators of the type shown I might use regulators of the A. C. balanced reactance bridge type, to wit, a

system of balanced impedances with cores equal in all the coils, wherein, when the impcndance valves are equal no current will flow in the control circuit, but motion of the trick wheel produces unbalance in the system and causes a current to flow in the motor armature circuit, the follow up restoring the balance and stopping the telemotor in a position corresponding to lwhere the trick wheel has been stopped.

It will further be obvious that in place of the regulators shown, two phase and three phase motors could be provided to be started and reversed by direct connection to the controlled circuit, in which event the phase difference produced by theaction of the induction regulators acting in the phase windings of a two or three phase squirrel cage induction motor, would cause the motors to stop or reverse as the case might be.

Again it is obvious that variable condensers v or condensers combined with reactances may be substituted for the induction regulators. In fact it should be understood that by the term induction regulator I mean to include any t orm of contactless current variator means for changing the current. J

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is: f

1. 'In an electric transmission system, a

pairof induction regulators each comprising stationary and movable coil portions, a I

contactless closed circuit including like coil portions'ot each of the regulators, means for producing a variating current therein, the other coil portions being each electrically connected to one of the lines of said circuit, 1

and having a conductor joining points of balanced potential on said other coil portions when-the latter are in balanced position, said conductor including means responsive to current interchange.

2. In an electric transmission system, a pair of induction regulators, each comprising stationary and movable coil portions, a contactless closed circuit includlng like portions of each of the regulators, means for producing a variating current in said circuit, the other coil portions being each electrically connected toone of the lines of said circuit, and "having conductors joimng points of balanced potential on said other coil portions, means for moving the movable coil portion of one of the regulators,

means responsive to current interchange included in said conductor, said last named means in turn controlling the movement of the movable coil portion of the other regulator, which in turn controls the movement of the means responsive to current intertransmitter and a receiver, each comprising field windings and a movable armature, two circuit portions having one conductor in common extending between said transmitter and receiver, and both including some of said windings, means for causing a constant alternating current to flow in one portion of said circuit, and means at the transmitter for setting up a current in the other portion of the circuit, whereby the resultant field generatedby said windings may be altered,

sponsive to current interchange.

5. In an electrical transmission system, a

said common conductor including means retransmitter and a receiver, each comprising stationary field windings and a movable armature coil, conductors connecting said fields, means for causing a constant alternating current to flow in said conductors, a third conductor connected to the windings of said armature coils, said armature coils each being in turn connected to one of said first named two conductors, means for moving the transmitter armature coil relative to its field, and means responsive to current interchange included in said third conductor. said last named means in turn controlling the movement of the receiver armature coil.

6. In an electric transmission system, the combination with a part to be moved, of controlling mechanism therefor, including atransmitter and receiver, each comprising stationary field coils and a movable armature coil, conductors connecting said field coils, means for impressing a constant alnating current in said conductors, a third conductor connected to the windings of said armature coils, said armature coils each being in turn connected to one of said first named conductors, meansfor moving the transmitter armature coil relative to its field, and means connecting the other movable armature coil to the part to be moved, and means responsive to current interchange included in said third conductor, and in turn controlling the part tobe moved.

7. In an electric transmission system, the combination with a part to be moved, of

controlling mechanism therefor, comprising and movable members, normally connected to said circuit in opposed phase relation and having means for adjusting the angularity between the members, one of'said regulators being manually adjustable and the other being operatively connected to said rotor.

'9. In a telernotor apparatus, a reversible driving motor, switch controlling mechanism therefor, an A. C. circuit controlling the operation of said mechanism, induction regulators normall connected in opposed phase relation in said circuit, said regulators having fixed and rotor members, and means under manual control for alternately vary ing theangular relation of said rotor members to thereby control the reactance effects of said. regulators in said A. C. circuit.

10. In a telemotor apparatus, the combination withra part to be moved of an electric motor for moving said part, a motor circuit for said motor including controlling and reversing switch means, a closed A. C. circuit including a control line, a polarized relay included in said control line arranged to control said switch means, a moving coil induction regulator for said A. C. circuit, adapted when moved. to induce current in said control line and operate said relay, and a follow up induction regulator having a coil arranged to be moved in unison with the motor and when so moved to induce a counter current in said control line to nontralize said relay.

In testimony whereof, I afiix my signature.

MYRON PENN LAUGHLIN. 

